"It's like 'Friends,' but set in Portsmouth," said writer/director Michael Robert Berry. "Or as we call it, 'America's favorite little port city.'"

"'Round the Square" will debut at 10:45 a.m. today on www.shortstream.tv.

Several members of the cast and crew will also be on "The Uncle Phil Show" starting at 10 a.m. Friday on Portsmouth Community Radio WSCA-FM 106.1 for a live question-and-answer session about the series.

"'Round The Square" was created by Berry and C. Daniel Freund for ShortStreamTV, which was founded by Freund under the umbrella of Kinney Hill Media Partners, an online strategy and development studio in Portsmouth.

"The thing that sets us apart from other people doing things like this is we're very much focused on Portsmouth," said Berry. "We are trying to promote the businesses and talent of Portsmouth — and also provide great entertainment."

"'Round the Square" follows six fictional characters who live and work in Portsmouth.

And instead of rich New Yorkers lounging around an apartment no one could possibly afford, the three men and three women of "'Round the Square" are a reflection of modern times — losing jobs, looking for apartments, dealing with roommates and getting on each other's nerves.

They're just doing it around Market Square.

According to the description on shortstream.tv, in the pilot season, Cheryl (Laurel Wiley), is losing both her store and her apartment. Evan (Pietro D'Alessio) is also worried about losing his apartment and takes in an old college friend, Jack (Brian Paul). Unfortunately for Evan, Jack has grown up since college and the two find it difficult to be roommates again.

Andrea (Danica Carlson) is worried she's sacrificing her life for fitness. She's obsessed with exercising and doesn't realize it until her new boyfriend points it out. Nate (G. Matthew Gaskell) is the group's "go-to guy," but his status gets challenged from an unlikely source, the quirky Emily (Emily Briand), who lives life by her own terms and tells people how it is — or at least the way she sees it.

Berry said he and Freund came up with the idea after meeting at a party last summer. Berry, who is in the N.H. Air National Guard at Pease, has a background in writing and theater and Freund, who lives in Portsmouth, is a Web designer. They talked about doing a project together, and even though Berry wasn't quite sure what a Web series was, they decided to take one on.

And they decided one of the priorities would be to promote Portsmouth as a destination.

"We have to do something that makes people think, 'I want to go to Portsmouth; it looks like a fun place,'" Berry said.

Berry wrote a concept script in about a week and took another week to polish it. They held auditions in early October at the Button Factory in Portsmouth.

Some of the roles were cast through people they knew — G. Matthew Gaskell, for example, Berry knew through The Players' Ring and thought he would be perfect for Nate.

Freund knew Emily Briand, whose Web character Emily Berry he described as "off the wall" and a female version of Christopher Lloyd's Reverend Jim on "Taxi" and Michael Richards' Kramer on "Seinfeld."

The first day of filming was on Halloween; scenes were shot in The Players' Ring and the Strawbery Banke area of the city for the colors of the houses and the fall foliage.

Other scenes were shot at a friend's house on Bow Street, inside Caffe Kilim on Islington Street, and at The Press Room and Ambrosia Gardens, both on Daniel Street.

Berry said the first episode is about four minutes long, and if people can't catch it right at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, they can click over to shortstream.tv/premiere at their leisure.

They are releasing the 10-episode season according to the lunar schedule, which Berry said has been successful for other shows. He said the first three episodes are scheduled to air on Fridays.

Right now, the content is free, with a second season being shot in March or April with a possible summer release.

Berry said the hope is to build awareness so that next year local businesses will want to get involved as sponsors. The show could then shoot scenes in the stores to promote the businesses in a mutually beneficial way.

Freund said there will be plenty of time for ShortStream to branch out, but right now the growth of the site and "'Round the Square" in particular are focused on building a strong local base and demonstrating the accessibility of the media.

Not to mention giving the public an entertaining look at modern life in "America's favorite little port city."

"We're giving people a destination for a different side of Portsmouth," Freund said.